Civic Nebraska strongly opposes LB884 and urges the committee to vote against sending it to the floor for debate. We stand opposed to section (1) of this legislation as it would require the state to utilize the SAVE system to verify voter registration as it relates to citizenship. This provision furthers dangerous myths about widespread voter fraud, endangers voter roll accuracy and can be used as a tool to criminalize Nebraskans. 

SAVE is designed to screen benefit, license and public service eligibility at the time of application for one individual – not as a uniform voter eligibility system with already established voter rolls. It matches data between systems to verify eligibility regardless of whether the data is updated and accurate.This could lead to erroneous purges of eligible voters. When voters have changed names, adjusted immigration status or are erroneously matched to someone with similar identifiers, there are risks to voter roll accuracy. 

According to a 2020 Census Bureau study, Nebraska has among the most outdated data in the country. Without additional oversight from Election Officials, eligible voters may not find out about their disenfranchisement with enough time to provide further documentation. This extra effort speaks to the administrative burden that this system creates – especially when there is no reason to suspect non-citizen registration, as our Secretary of State’s office has previously indicated. 

An October 2025 report from Pro Publica highlighted that of 33 million registered voters analyzed by SAVE, 96.5% were eligible voters. Of that remaining 3.7% percent, 0.04% were identified as non-citizens who needed further review. It is then up to the Secretary of State’s office to determine the process for review. In many states, this burden has fallen to the counties themselves. In Tennessee, flagged individuals were referred to the FBI before additional follow-up was provided from the state. 

The SAVE program is currently in the process of expanding to include a comprehensive list of DMV information, including residential addresses. This would enable the federal government to have access to sensitive information that was never intended to be shared. The Department of Homeland Security is authorized to use any information from the SAVE program for the prosecution of violations of federal administrative or criminal law. This data could very well be used for purposes of immigration enforcement and beyond. Once handed over, the state has no control over how the data is utilized. 

There are neither verifiable nor factual claims of widespread voter fraud perpetrated by non-citizens, particularly in Nebraska. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, analyzed elections from 1982 to 2025 in each state, looking for instances of fraud committed by non-citizens. There were zero such instances found in Nebraska across their 43 year study. Legislation such as LB884 is not responsive to the landscape of elections in Nebraska and endangers public confidence in election outcomes as well as voter security. 

One of the best measurements of civic engagement is voter registration and electoral participation, but those indicators are not ultimate. Across our state, immigrants are contributing to our communities in meaningful ways outside of the ballot box – as parents, coaches, neighbors, longtime community members and more. Civic Nebraska values the contributions of immigrants in our state and stands firmly opposed to any rhetoric that vilifies our neighbors. 

We urge the committee to vote against this legislation in the spirit of election safety and security.